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In
the dim and distant past late night telly used to present Casey Kasem, a creepy
looking dad-like figure, who wore increasingly garish jumpers while presenting
a run down of America's top 10. In between Cheap
Trick and INXS you'd regularly see Sheffield's finest, Def Leppard, performing
another hit single from the global success that was Hysteria. Of
course, the album very nearly didn't make it. It arrived four years after Pyromania,
the LP that had sprung the band into the mainstream, a million miles from their
indie single release Ride Into the Sun. Such was the slow process of completion
the band almost called it a day. The situation wasn't helped when drummer Rick
Allen lost his arm in a car crash. Somehow it galvanised
Def Leppard; Rick learnt to play one armed and the group persevered under producer
Mutt Lange. The result was 18 million sales of a
CD propelled along by the regular release of killer singles like Rocket, Animal,
Pour Some Sugar On Me and Love Bites. The Americans loved it and the Leppard became
stadium favourites. So as we approach Hysteria's
20th anniversary the album gets the deluxe treatment. Mutt Lange's production
is tarted up in "remastered" style, while the original album is supplemented
by B sides from the single releases. There's a second
disc that offers live renditions of varying quality. A Rock of Ages medley fails
to ignite. There are also 12" mixes of the likes of Armageddon It and Animal
and a dreadful Phoenix Nights style rendition of Release Me. Maybe
that was a sign of the slippery road Def Leppard would find themselves on once
the hits dried up. Their most recent album of covers is a pale reflection on a
band who once ruled the arenas. i-Pod: Animal
Label:
Mercury
Rating: 4/5 | 
